fibreglass and all that jazz

[gmanxiii]

Just wondering whilst looking for new fairings ive come across different terms or materials used to make them. Whats the difference between them all or are some plastics the same stuff just named differently?
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I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[Kickstart]

Hi

Fibreglass (GRP) is matting made from glass molded in with resin. Can be quite strong an light, and cheap to tool up for. Finish is unlikely to be as good as original plastics (and the inside is unlikely to be finshed at all well).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[gmanxiii]

cool thanks for that, is it generally as strong?
____________________
I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[TOM M]

[gmanxiii]

Brill thats great
____________________
I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[Kickstart]

Hi

As above, quite likely to be stronger. And if it cracks it is likely to be localised.

Can be very light if vacuum bagged (ie, put the mold with the matting and resin in a bag, sucking most of the resin out).

Its strength is largely down to its shape. The matting is the main source of strength and that pretty much only resists forces by tension. Compress it and it bends easily, same if you twist it. Idea is that when encased in resin any force is pulling hard against the matting, trying to stretch it.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[MattEMulsion]

If you ever talk to people who have fitted race fairings then you will understand the differences.

Basically the proper genuine fairings are made from a quality kind of plastic that is perfectly formed, can be made with nice edges and looks the part inside and out - but they are quite expensive to produce. On the upside they require no reworking and are ready to paint and tend to be a top notch fit.

Your cheaper fairings (such as fibre glass race fairings) are basically copies made out of a slightly different material. The upside is that they are cheap to tool up and produce, but the downside is that you can only mould one quality side, ie the inside will never be smooth and things like the panel edges can be a bit hit and miss due to the very nature of thin fibreglass panels. Also a lot of these copies don't fit very well without a lot of work to make them right.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for and that is why people use the cheap fibre glass fairings on the track as they are easily replaced or repaired, well a lot more so than a genuine plastic fairing.
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Yamaha YZF-R6

[Kickstart]

[MattEMulsion]

[Kickstart]

Hi

They make money, but they also give up selling spares for bikes at a fairly young age. Especially plastics that have a large number of bulky examples all of which are slow moving.

And with the cost of plastics anything a decade of so old would be written off by insurance on the cost of plastics long before Howasakisuzamaha got a sniff of the money.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing